Railway-car.



No. 728,813. PATENTED MAY 19, 1903. S.-T. WELLMAN & O. 'F. STREET.

RAILWAY GAR.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 9. 1902.

5 sums-sum 1.

N0 MODEL.

A m md Q -M W W. o 0 al M U $6 o O O I l I I I I l I l l 1 I I I I I l I l I l I l l I I I lrol o 0 .Q A 0 .hi #0 0 Q o- H o o 0 .V OWN O, H o o o o O O n o o w .O O Y O O O o. VO 0 o O o A O O O .O O O o 0 on o o m o m .v v00700 000oooooooooooooooooooooooooooocom m: warns PETERS co, Pqcn/mmo. WASHINGYON, uv x:v

No. 728,813. PATENTED MAY 19', 1903. s. T. WE'LLMAN & c. F. STREET.

RAILWAY GAB.

APPEIOATlgON FILED DBO. 9| 1902.

6 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

oooooooooooocni hnoooooooo do 0 o o OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOO n15 ncnms PETERS co, FHflTo-LITHQ. wAsumcmw, n. c.

o. 728,813. H T PATBNTED MAY- 19, 1903. s. T. WELLMAN & o, F. STREET. RAILWAY CAR.

0 APPLICATION FILED DEC. 9' 1902.

N0 MODEL. 5 SHEETS-SHEET m: NORRIS PETERS co. wow-mun, vvgsmuorom a. c

- No.-'728,813. PATENTBD MAY 19, 1903 s. T. WELLMANG: c. F. STREET.

RAILWAYOANR.

APPLIOQIION FILED DEC. 9. 1902. 10 IODBL. 5 SHEETS-SHEET 6.

m: unnmz PEYEIW co. wovauwon WASHINGTON. n. cy

UNITED STATES- i Patented May 19, 1903.

PATENT ()FFICE.

SAMUEL T. WVELLMAN AND CLEMENT F. STREET, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO, ASSIGNORS OF ONE-THIRD TO CHARLES H. WELLMAN, OF CLEVELAND,

OHIO.

RAI t wny-CA SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 728,813, dated May 19, 1903. v I

Application filed December 9, 1902. Serial No- 134.582. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, SAMUEL T. WELL- MAN and CLEMENT F. STREET, citizens of the United States, and residents of Cleveland, Ohio, have invented certain Improvements in Railway-Oars, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to that class of railway-cars known as hopper-cars, the object of our invention being to so constructsuch a car as to secure the necessary strength of the same without the employment of an elaborate system of bracing ordinarily required and when the car is made of metal to prevent rapid deterioration of the same, due to corrosion of the plates, bars,and rivets. This object we attain in the manner hereinafter set forth, reference being bad to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a side elevation of one end of a metallic hopper-car constructed in accordance with our invention. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section of the opposite end of the same. Fig. 3 is a plan view of Fig. 2 with part of the car-body broken away to show the construction of framework beneath the same. Fig. 4 is a transverse section on the line a a, Fig. 1; and Fig. 5 is a transverse section on the line b b, Fig. 2.

Ordinary hopper-cars have vertical sides and ends and bottomswhich are fiat transversely and also longitudinally as to their central portions, the bottoms being inclined upwardly at each end, so as to direct the load toward the central portion of the car, where the discharge openings are located. The sides and bottoms of such cars have to be rigidly braced in order to withstand the strains upon them. Consequently an undue proportion of the total weight has to be devoted to braces and rivets, and in order that the limit of the weight of the car may not be exceeded it is necessary to make the plates of which the car is composed relatively thin. Cars of this character made of rolled-steel plates begin to deteriorate because of corrosion as soon as they are put into use, the corrosion being greatest at the joints where the plates and brace-bars meet and at and about the rivet-heads.

In carrying out our invention, therefore, our aim has been to so form the body of the car as to enable it with a minimum amount of bracing to properly resist the strains imposed upon it, the reduction in the number of rivets and braces employed in the construction of the car lessening the Weight of such rivets and braces and in the case of a metallic car permitting us to add the Weight thus'gained to the plates of which thecarbody is composed, thereby securing the double advantage of lessening the number of joints and rivets which provide initial points for'corrosion, while at the same time the extra thickness of the plates enables them to better resist such corrosive action.

The body of the car consists, in-the present instance, of a center section 1, opposite end sections 2 2, and end plates 3 3, each of the body-sections having opposite vertical sides and a bottom portion which is transversely flat as to its center, but is joined to the opposite vertical sides by curved or rounded portions of the plate, as shown in Figs. 4 and 5.

The bottom of the central section 1 of the .car is flat longitudinally; but the bottom of each end section is inclined upwardly from its junction with the central section to the end of the car.

Each end plate is secured to its corresponding end section of the car body by means of an internal angle-bar 4, and the upper edge of the car is stilfened by external channel-beams 5, extending along the sides and ends of the car and connected at the corners by horizontal Web-plates or gussets 6, the top of the car being also braced laterally by means of transverse stays 7, preferablyin the form of angle-bars reduced at the ends, so as form bolts which can be secured to the sides of the car and to the stiffened bars-5 by means internal and external nuts, as shown in Figs.

inwardly or toward each other, as shown in Figs. 4c and 5, this sill structure being above the level of the bottom of the central section of the car and passing through the bottom of each end section, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, that portion of the sill structure which is within the interior of the car-body being contained within a tunnel 9, which rises from the bottom of the car andis preferably provided with an inclined or reversely-beveled top 10, so as to directthe contents of the car to either side of the tunnel. (See Fig. 4.) On each side of the tunnel the central section of the car has bottom openings provided with swinging doors 11, so as to provide for the discharge of the contents of the car when said doors are opened. The side plates of the tunnel structure stiffen and strengthen the central sill structure throughout the greater portion of its length, and the lower edges of said side plates are stiffened by the angle-bars 9, whereby they are secured to the bottom of the car.

Mounted upon and secured to the sill structure 8 where the latter projects beyond each of the end sections 2 of the car is a transverse bolster 12, the upper surface of which conforms and is securedito the longitudinallyinclined and transversely-rounded bottom of said end section, so as to provide the desired rigid support therefor, this support being continued upwardlyfrom each end of the bolster by means of a brace-bar 13, suitably secured to the side ofsaid end section2of the car. Support for the outer end of each bolster 12is provided by means of a pair of short supplementary side sills 14, which extend from the bottom of the end section 2 of the car to the buffer-bar at the end of the car, these sills 14 also carrying the side bearings 15 for contact with the side bearings of the truck-bolster.

The inner ends of the side sills 14 are secured to the bottom of the car-body by means of brackets 16, each having side flanges shaped to conform to the under side of the car-body and a projecting flange which is secured to the web of the sill 14. I The buffer-bar at each end of the car preferably consists of a channel-beam 17, to which is secured a transverse beam 18, of wood, which provides a more or less elastic medium for resisting bufling strains upon the car, the lower outer corner of said beam 18 being preferably reinforced by means of an angle-bar 19, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

The ends of the car are braced and stiffened by means of vertical bars 20, secured to the ends of the car and to the bufier-bar 17. The bufier-bar, as shown in Fig. 3, does not extend completely across the end of the car, and in order to aid the side sills 14 in bracing the ends of said buffer-bar diagonal struts buffer-bar the outer ends of the side sills 14 and diagonal struts 21.

The central section 1 of the car-body is strengthened by means of an external transverse brace-bar 23, which extends completely around said central section of the car-body, as shown in Figs. 4 and 5.

It will be evident that owing to the transversely-rounded shape of the body of ourimproved car the necessary strength of the carbody can be secured with a much less amount of bracing than in the case of a car having a rectangular cross-section; hence the saving in weight of braces and rivets to which we have alluded in the beginning of this specification and the consequent ability to add this weight to the plates of the car, the lessening of the number .of braces and rivets correspondingly lessening the points of corrosion and the additional-weight of the plates enabling them to better resist such corrosion.

By flattening the central portion of the floor of the car the capacity of the car is increased as compared with one having a semicylindrioal bottom.

The car-body may, if desired, be of wood instead of metal; but in that case a greater number of braces 13 and 23 will be needed.

Having thus described our invention, we claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1. A hopper-car having a body with open top and a transversely-rounded bottom with upwardly-inclined longitudinal end portions, substantially as specified.

2. A hopper-car having a body with open top and a transversely-rounded bottom with upwardly-inclined longitudinal end portions in combination with a central sill structure, substantially as specified. v

3. A hopper-car having a body'with open top and a transversely-rounded bottom with upwardly-inclined longitudinal end portions, in combination with a central sill structure projecting beyond the upwardly-inclined end portions of the bottom of the car, substantially as specified.

4. A hopper-car having a body with open top and a transversely-rounded bottom with upwardly-inclined longitudinal end portions, in combination with acentral sill structure projecting beyond said inclined end portions of the bottom of the car, and short side sills extending outwardly from said inclined end portions of the bottom, substantially as speci- 6. A-hopper-car having a body with open IIS top and a transversely-rounded bottom havinginclined longitudinal end portions, in combination with a central longitudinal sill structure located above the floor of the central portion of the car, and projecting through the inclined bottom of the car at each end, and a tunnel inclosing that portion of the sill structure which is within the interior of the car, substantially as specified.

7. A hopper-car having a body with open top and a transversely-rounded bottom having inclined longitudinal end portions, in combination with a central longitudinal sill structure located above the floor of the central portion of the car, and projecting through the inclined bottom of the carat each end, and a tunnel inclosing that portion of the sill structure which is within the interior of the car, said tunnel having an inclined top, substantially as specified.

8. A hopper-car having a body with open top and a transversely-rounded bottom with upwardly-inclined longitudinal end portions, in combination with a central longitudinal sill structure extending through the interior ofthe car and projecting through the inclined bottom of the same at each end, and dischargeopenings in the central portion of the carbody on each side of said sill structure, substantially as specified.

9. A hopper-car having a body with open top and a transversely-rounded bottom with upwardly-inclined longitudinal end portions, in combination with a central sill structure extending through the car-body and projecting beyond the inclined bottom portions at the ends of the car, and transverse bolsters interposed between said sill structure and the inclined bottom portions of the car, substantially as specified.

10. A hopper-car having a body with open top and a transversely-rounded bottom having upwardly-inclined longitudinal end portions, in combination with a central sill structure extending through the car and projecting beyond the inclined bottom at each end of the car, transverse bolsters interposed between the inclined bottom portions of the car, and the projecting portions of the-central sill structure, and short side sills extending outwardly from the car-bottom at each end of the same and supporting the outer ends of said bolsters, substantially as specified.

11. A metallic hopper-car having a body composed of a central section and opposite end sections secured thereto, each of said sections having an open top and a transversely-rounded bottom and the end sections having their bottom portions inclined upwardly, substantially as specified.

12. A metallic hopper-car having a body consisting of a central section and opposite end sections secured thereto and each having a transversely-rounded bottom, the end sections also having their bottom portions inclined upward longitudinally, in combination with a central sill structure projecting through the inclined bottoms of the end sections, substantially as specified.

13. A hopper-car having a body with open top and transversely-rounded bottom with upwardly-inclined longitudinal end portions, in combination with a central sill structure extending throughout the length of the car and projected through said inclined bottom portions of the same, and buffer-bars secured to the end portions of said central sill structure, substantially as specified.

14. A hopper-car having a body with open top and transversely-rounded bottom with upwardly-inclined longitudinal end portions, in combination with a central sill structure extending throughout the length of the car and projected through said inclined bottom portions of the same, buffer-bars secured to the end portions of said central sill structure, and vertical braces extending from said butfer-bars to the ends of the car, substantially as specified.

15. A hopper-car having a body with open top and transversely-rounded bottom with upwardly-inclined longitudinal end portions, in combination with a central sill structure extending throughout the length of the car and projected through said inclined bottom portions of the same, buffer-bars secured to the end portions of said central sill structure, and short side sills extending from the inclined bottom portions of the car to the buffer-bars, substantially as specified.

16. A hopper-car having a body with open top and transversely-rounded bottom with upwardly-inclined longitudinal end portions,

in combination with a central sill structure extending throughout the length of the car and projected through said inclined bottom portions of the same, bufier-bars secured to the end portions of said central sill structure, short side sills extending from the inclined bottom portions of the car to the buffer-bars, and diagonal struts extending from said buffer-bars to the central sill structure, substantially as specified.

In testimony whereof We have signed our names to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

SAMUEL T. WELLMAN.

CLEMENT 13. STREET.

Witnesses:

O. W. GoMsTocK, W. G. HILDEBRAN.

too 

